Lost inside a wreck at 45m (again) :D

[Mark Chase]

Following the gales and near hurricanes of Monday, Tuesday I had thought the possibility of getting on the Moldavia to be right up there with the chances of the wife whole heartedly embracing the 14th March Steak and BJ event and getting that Nurses outfit we (I) had discussed..

But wait????? No it cant be true??? Yes were going diving.


Having discovered this at about lunchtime on a busy Thursday i was left a bit short because the unit was literally in bits and my tanks were empty. Much fafing around later and i am in bed trying to run through a mental check list of what i needed for the UK diving thing i used to do ages ago.

At 2am I lept out of bed and went to the garage to find my back up SMB

At an absolutely horrible 4:30 am the alarm goes off and I am sitting on the side of the bed wondering what pleasure a winter dive on the Moldavia could possibly bring that makes feeling as crap as this worth it.

5am and i am off in the general direction of Oxted to collect Janos.

We pitch up at 6:30am Brighton time and meet and greet with Nigel, ScubaJay, JP Taylor and wait???? whooooooosssss this????

YES its AndyP

And he's alllllllmost early and I believe he loaded all his own dive kit.

Once the nurse had revived me with smelling salts we set off an an oily sea with only a lazy Atlantic style swell to spoil the ride.

Shot in kit on and Janos leads the way with AndyP in the middle and me bringing up the rear.

Sadly the decent didn't go to well. Janos had a free flow on the Paragon Bov Andyp was struggling to turn his suit inflation bottle on and i was struggling to clear my ears after the ear infection in Mexico. Then Janos is bailing to Open Circuit and showing me a dead Shearwater Display.

I thought this was a bit of a drastic way of not diving with AndyP but I gave him the OK and made sure he was on the right gas to ascend.

Slowly but surely Andrew and I made it to the wreck at 47m and we were greeted with 2m viz. The worst I have ever had on the Moll. I tried to get Andrew to lead so i could keep an eye on him (His first dive for quite some time) but he hates leading and tucked in behind me.

In no time at all we were inside the wreck.

I was checking up and noticed the ceiling of steel above us so i turned the dive and signaled the overhead to Andrew who called me a twat and let me again lead the way back to the shot.

I recognized a curved arm from one of the lifeboats and realized we were about mid ships. I moved out on to the gravel and turned right to try and keep away from the main wreckage and the overheads but I nearly lost the wreck for a moment. Then I noticed a large section of supa structure and headed for that collecting and bagging a large crab along the way.

With a steel wall to my right for reference we set off again rummaging in the two m viz but I began to notice the viz was improving. Shining the torch up I realized we were again inside the wreck.

I turned around so the steel wall was now on my left and we headed back out.

Except we didn't get out we just headed along in ever improving viz until in the end we had a good 4m of viz and a corridor that was getting ever smaller between the hull plates and the wooden decking of the wreck.

This was frustrating

A quick check on the computer found we had been down 25mins and we were on CCR so no drama but I felt it best to find a way out ASAP

Then I noticed a torch beam so I finned over to a hole in the hull plate and stuck my head out to see two divers on the outside. (I think it was Nigel) I considered trying to communicate to them we were a tad lost but decided the probability was they'd end up in hear two.

I wanked the steel plateing back and forth to see if in a push we could get out of the hole but it was too strong.

Fortunately we had had good trim through the wreck and the way behind was as clear as it could be. We headed back and I kept an eye out for holes in the wreck. Soon i noticed a hole below us but it was very black and didn't look promising. We dropped down and stuck our heads out but I still wasn't sure we were in open water as some areas of the inside of the Moll are pretty big.

Andyp had had enough and thumbed the dive so the moment of truth came when we sent up our SMBs. Luckily the line peeled rapidly from my reel and it was obvious we were good to go.

The ascent was a tad slow but it had been a while for Andrew and slow was a good thing. I left the bottom with 24mins showing for deco and by the time we got to 9m I had 25mins showing


Back on board and Andrew dekits and comes round and says "

"Thanks Mark"

"What was that??? Three times you got us inside the wreck? Oh and that last time was a peach"

Having proved to Andrew my wreck navigation skills haven't improved much in the two odd years since we last dived together I asked if he had got a bit nervous the last time we were lost and was that the reason he thumbed the dive.

Andrew said..

Don't be stupid were on CCR? I thumbed it coz I was bloody freezing

Sadly Janos had had a battery failure on his Shearwater which is why he canned the dive. I cant say he missed much but we got wet and had a laugh and for diving in March thats about all I expect.

Anyway the viz inside the wreck was much better

ATB

Mark

[purple vonny]

That would have been exciting if it weren't so scary. And, as you say, good job you were on CCR. Glad you are safe!

[Georgina]

Do I miss UK diving? Actually, sometimes, yes!

[Janos]

Not much to add, except that I was a bit worried it would be a bit lumpy, but actually it turned out to be not too bad and the sea was smooth to slight on the way back in. It was dark down on the wreck though.

I'm very annoyed with myself for the battery thing. The Shearwater batteries last for around a year, but they do allow you to check the voltage very easily.

Guess who didn't the night before this dive - stupid, stupid stupid.

Still, great day out and nice to chat. And I had a tasty ginsters.

Janos

[Paul Oliver]

Nice report Mark, looks like getting lost in the Zenobia is still paying dividends, nothing to beat a bit of experience

You do realise we will have much better viz off of Calais on Monday

[liamm]

I can appreciate extra time that ccr buys you is a good thing if you get lost but how much time would you have had if you bailed to scr or oc. This isnt me having a dig just wondering.
I would shit myself if i ended up lost in a wreck and dont think id have been quite so reasoned.

At least you got to go iving - i havnt been wet in a month and it getting tiresome.

[purple vonny]

Originally Posted by liamm

I would shit myself if i ended up lost in a wreck and dont think id have been quite so reasoned.

My thoughts too. I hope it doesn't encourage less experienced divers to penetrate wrecks. I'm sure it won't. But for those without a cool head, and on OC, it could have been nasty.

[Janos]

Originally Posted by purple vonny

My thoughts too. I hope it doesn't encourage less experienced divers to penetrate wrecks. I'm sure it won't. But for those without a cool head, and on OC, it could have been nasty.

I think it's worth mentioning that Mark has dived the Mol in good viz and knows her reasonably well. If I'd remembered to change my battery, and made it to the bottom of the shot, then I would have reeled off as I don't have Mark's knowledge of her.

Janos

[RogerViking]

good post mark.

[jptaylor9]

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